Hays Romania launches the salary guide for 2020: Market salaries: increase, decrease or stability?

The unprecedented times we’re living in have reshaped the world of work and changed the dynamic of the Romanian labour market. Employers and employees have had to adapt to this new reality that has affected employment prospects and remuneration levels across Romania.

Hays Romania, part of Hays plc, the world’s largest specialist recruitment agency for qualified, professional and skilled workers, has been studying the current market situation, the impact of the pandemic on salary ranges, and the perspectives employees and employers have around future market trends. Based on this data, Hays’ expertise and local market insights, Hays Romania has launched the first edition of the Romanian Salary Guide, a comprehensive guide which will enable greater understanding of the labour market and allow companies to tailor their hiring strategies to attract and retain their biggest talents.

The Romanian labour market has this year been strongly influenced by the pandemic, the global economic slowdown and local legislation, giving individuals and businesses need to rethink, re-evaluate and look again at their respective careers and business plans.

Timur Makhmutov, Managing Director of Hays Romania, goes further to say:

“A Chinese saying attributed to Confucius says that living in epoque of changes is a curse, which can be true, but can also be an opportunity. In fact, the word “crisis” is composed of two hieroglyphs – “danger” and “opportunity” – with these themes of change, danger and opportunity running true throughout the research we have undertaken in this guide. Salary Guide definitely confirms this duality.

 Despite the understandable rise in unemployment, we can see that this does not heavily affect areas where there are skill shortages – in managerial talent across all markets and functions, or technical, commercial and digital professionals. Hiring companies need to fight for the best candidates from these areas, against other potential new employers as well a candidate’s own employer that will be desperately trying to retain their services. The vast majority (60-86% depending on sector) of our responding organizations continue to recruit at the moment – most notably in the business services/BPO, HR, IT, engineering & manufacturing, sales & marketing sectors.“

HOW HAVE RECRUITMENT PROCESSES CHANGED AND WHAT SKILLS ARE MOST NEEDED IN THE MARKET?

Agility and adaptability to change are key pillars for success during these challenging times. In the new era of work, where the hybrid working model represents a new reality for professionals from many sectors, companies have reshaped their recruitment processes and retention strategies to suit this model. The major change has been in moving to face-to-face interviews online, with personal interaction not being possible in this period. Moreover, companies had to ensure a concise recruitment process for new roles, with candidates losing interest if involved in a complex recruitment process. Recruitment processes are also integrated in ongoing digitalization and have had to adapt to Gen Z workers who are looking more and more for interactive and challenging approach in their employment. Companies have started to adapt to this trend by offering short and conclusive recruitment steps.

Employers continue to search for the best specialists and to ensure their roles are focused on the right projects and packages to retain them for the long-term. Human resources experts have therefore been focusing on strategies around employee retention, but have also had to focus on personal reorganization, management of the changing context of work and the fast transition to a new hybrid model of working since COVID-19 impacted Romania.

In 2020, technical, digital and managerial skills were most in demand, but were also the most difficult to find in the market. The rapid expansion of these areas when lockdown hit Romania transformed them into difficult to find candidates, with the demand in these areas higher than the supply available.

WAGES STAGNATED, BENEFITS IMPROVED

In the nine specialisms analyzed by Hays Romania, wages have stagnated in 2020, with only slight increases of between 5% – 15% seen in some specialized roles. Taking into consideration the economic context this year, employees were more interested in flexible and innovative benefits packages, instead of salary increases. The remote working model implemented by most companies during the pandemic is perceived by candidates as an additional non-financial benefit and more and more will opt for this type of employment – but it is not necessarily compatible with some of the employers’ ways of working.

While 2020 has been a difficult year for many companies, they remain quite optimistic about the future. A year of wage increases is in front for many – with up to 57% of employers intending to increase salaries in 2021, usually by several percent, and 41% of employers set to maintain the same level of salaries. Just 2% are more pessimistic about the future, suggesting a potential decrease in salaries in the future.

EMPLOYEES HAVE A HIGH INTEREST IN CHANGING THEIR JOB

The candidate market was effervescent even during the pandemic. Candidates were very open and flexible to explore new career opportunities within the market, even in the uncertain times. According to our survey, over 85% of employees are open to exploring new career opportunities outside their company in 2021. But, we should consider that employees appreciate a stable organization, with a long-term business vision and wide variety of projects, therefore employer branding was an important part for a candidate to consider, too.

Even though it might not be easy to assess when the pandemic will end and how it will continue to influence the labour market, employees and employers both have a positive outlook towards their 2021 prospects.

The Hays Romania Salary report has been based on research into the perspectives of over 700 employees and employers across Romania, data from recruitment processes carried out by Hays Romania in 2020 and insights and opinions from industry experts.